For a Moment
by AllyJackson
Summary: Imagine for a moment, if you would, that you're Romano. Now take a moment to place yourself in England's shoes.
1. South Italy

Hetalia does not belong to me. Thank you!

* * *

Imagine for a moment, if you would, that you're Romano.

_Who?_

The other half of Italy.

_There's two of them?_ _What for?_

I don't know. But just imagine, just for a moment, that you're Romano. Imagine you've a brother, younger than you. Cuter, too.

_Hey!_

Well, it's true. Everyone knows it, everyone thinks it.

_Really?_

Oh, yes. So you're Romano and you've a younger, cuter, all-around better-than-you brother. And you have a grandfather. A strong, successful grandfather that everyone knows and respects and fears. But he's going to die soon, so he takes your brother on a journey with him, to teach him loads of important stuff, like how to cook and clean, how to sing and dance, how to make art.

_What about me?_

Oh, no. You're just Romano. Why would he take you?

_Well. That sucks._

Indeed. So, you get left behind with a bunch of countries that you don't particularly like, and who don't particularly like you.

_So . . . what happens then?_

Well, eventually, your brother comes back. Your grandfather's dead of course, couldn't be bothered to come back home and say goodbye to his first grandchild. And soon after your brother comes home, a war is fought.

_What over?_

Over you.

_Me? Really?_

Well, no. Over your brother. But you're his other half, so you get dragged along as a matter of course.

_Oh._

Well, did you really think that anyone might believe you were worth fighting a war over? Be realistic! You're just Romano.

_So I've been told._

So this war is fought over you and your brother.

_But mostly my brother._

Of course. And, as usually happens in such matters, one country wins. And now you work for him. But technically he's working for that little blonde country.

_The Germanic one?_

That very one. So really, you're working for him. Oh, and you can't stand him. He's got a thing for your brother, you can tell. But that's not why you hate him. Or, at least, not the whole reason. But that's unimportant because soon, you're given away.

_Given away?_

Oh, yes. You see, the country who won you, Mr. Austria, well, he really can't stand you. No one can. So he gives you away to an unsuspecting taker. Spain.

_That cheerfully oblivious guy?_

Yes. But he wasn't always cheerful then. He was a _conquistador_. And you were his colony and he was your boss and he expected you to cook and clean.

_But, that should be fine, right? I mean, everyone knows how good Italy is at cooking and cleaning._

Yes, but you're Romano. And don't forget, your grandfather taught your brother everything while you were woefully left in the dark. So you don't know how to cook. But that's not the only problem. You've also a disease. Chorea.

_What's that?_

It's a movement disorder that causes quick, involuntary movements of the hands or feet.

_Like involuntary dancing?_

Like a manic puppet's sick version of involuntary dancing. So this means that even if you really wanted to try and help with the cleaning, you couldn't. Oh, and you do try. But you always make a bigger mess. And Spain notices. Of course he notices, how could he not notice what a bumbling fool you are? So he goes back to Mr. Austria and he asks for a trade. You for your brother.

Mr. Austria declines, of course. And why shouldn't he? He's got sweet, adorable, _helpful_ Italy, who can cook and clean and sing and dance and brighten up a room, just by walking in, or smiling. Why would he want grumpy, tempermental, clumsy Romano, who can't do anything right?

_And does Romano - er, do _I_ find out about Spain's offer?_

Well, of course you do. And here's the worst part - he trys to "make it up" to you. He'll teach you Spanish! Feed you tomatoes! Help you clean! Teach you to cook!

_Well, what's so bad about that?_

You don't want his pity, do you? You're Romano! You don't _need _his pity. And that's all it is, he doesn't actually _care_ for you. How could he? You're just clumsy Romano.

_But, what about all that fighting? I heard that Spain fought a lot of people just to keep me! Er, Romano._

Ha! You actually thought that was because he cared about _you_? Most of the time, your brother was also threatened. And we can't have poor Italy harmed, can we?

_And the other times?_

Spain was a conquistador, remember? He was a fighter, a blood-thirsty ruler of the seas. But for England, he could have owned those waters!

_Oh. So . . . it wasn't because he cared?_

Haven't I told you enough times by now? You're just Romano. Nobody cares about you and how could they, next to your amazing brother?

_Do I hold any grudges against my brother?_

Perhaps. But you don't hate him. After all, he is your brother, and, useful or not, he's pretty helpless. _Someone's _got to protect him.

_Seems like Spain's got that covered._

But he's not _Spain's_ brother. He's yours. And you do care for him. Why do you think you worked so hard to become one unified country with him?

_Was Spain upset? When I left? Like England was with America?_

England loved America. _Loves_ America. Spain wasn't losing anything important to him, why should he fight to keep you?

_I'm just Romano._

Exactly. But, even so, you somehow manage to win unification, and you finally get to see your brother again. You're finally free, and nobody owns you, or any part of you. Feels nice, right?

_Yes. But . . . kind of lonely. He was annoying, but I got used to Spain._

Got used to him? Kid, you fell in love with him! Too bad he was a couple hundred years your elder and could never return the feelings. Shame.

_But . . . is it better now? In today-time? They live together, right? And age can't be a huge problem, I mean, look at America and England. Look at France and Canada!_

Yes, but they're not you. Not Romano. Not the clumsy, grumpy, utterly useless, hopeless, _forgettable_ Romano. _They _don't have amazing, cute, cheerful, wonderful, friendly, _irreplaceable_ Italy for a younger brother. A younger brother who even your own grandfather prefered. But you do. Because you're just-

_Romano._

* * *

So I did this in one go, based on a rant I had with myself. . . . :|

I'd like to point out that I adore all characters of Hetalia (Romano's actually one of my personal favorites) and don't resent any of them. I'm not trying to bash Spain or Austria and I very much like Spamano. This is sort of based off how I think Romano may view his situation, taking into account his inferiority complex and abadonment issues. And those two voices aren't any countries in particular. In fact, in my mind, I see them almost as being in Romano's head, or something.

I'd also like to say that any "historical events" mentioned are based entirely off what I learned from Hetalia. If you see anything wrong, please tell me!

As for Chorea, it's characterized by involuntary jerking in limbs, hips, and shoulders, involuntary expression-changes and, in some cases, the victim will also be extremely irritable, emotionally unstable, physically weak, restless, and fretful. Sounds like loads of fun, right?


	2. Great Britain

**Edit:** So, I actually finally got around to changing . . . quite a bit, actually. I'm much happier with this version, though Romano's is still my favorite.

You know, I never actually planned to continue this. But this came to me and I had to write it down!

Please accept my apologies in advance for probable overuse of italics to emphasize my points. Also for bringing up the decidedly worn "Elizabeth thought of England as a husband"-thing. Though, er, _interesting_ fact: Did you know Hitler considered himself married to Germany? (. . . . I still don't know how to respond to this particular factoid)

Also, again, I do not dislike any of the countries in Hetalia. England is tied for first place in my favorites, even (Romano being the other, obviously). I'm not trying to bash anyone, or insult anyone. Yada yada, you get the idea. So no flames because I'm being _mean to poor Iggy!_ okay? Or, actually, send me those, I've been waiting for someone new to use my powers of sarcasm on.

Hetalia does not belong to me. Thank you!

* * *

And now we turn to England, whose shoes we shall for a moment place ourselves in.

_What? Why? What's so important about him?_

What's so impor . . . ? Well, he's England, isn't he? The bloody United Kingdom of such and such and so on. Said to be the biggest Empire in History at the height of his power!

_Oh, no, no way. You've gotta' be kidding, have you actually seen him? Physically or geographically?_

Now, what do you mean by that?

_Well, let's see, geographically he's a rather small nation isn't he? Just an island, really. Not even the whole island, he's got to share it. Not much there, kind of disappointing. And physically, he's not much better. Rather on the short side, bad temper, huge eyebrows. And did I mention that if he weren't a nation, he'd probably have died of alcohol poisoning a long time ago?_

Yes, but were he not a nation, do you really think he'd have so many bad memories to wash away in drink?

_What do you mean?_

Empires never have fun histories, but surely that much is obvious. After all, you can't gather that much power through smiles and tea parties. So of course he'd have some awful things to drink away.

_Yeah, but you don't see Spain, Italy, Russia or any of the others drinking like he does, and they were empires, too._

True, but have you seen Spain when he _does_ drink? Sheesh. And besides, being an Empire was just the beginning; you haven't even heard his past yet.

_Was it worse than . . . what's his name . . . Romano's?_

I'd say. When Romano's grandfather died, he and Veneziano were left a huge fortune. And, speaking of Veneziano, Romano was also left a brother who actually cared for him. When England's mother died, he was left as a province of the Roman Empire and he had two brothers who hated his guts.

_. . . England had a mother?_

Of course! Haven't you heard of Britannia?

_Wouldn't England be Britannia?_

Well, sort of. It's all rather complicated, you see. His mother, as far as I can tell, represented free Britannia. As in, the Britannia ruled by a bunch of tribes scattered throughout the land. Rather pagan, and barbaric. England, unfortunately for him, represented a Britannia living under Roman-rule.

_So, what? Rome took over Britannia and just like that, boom! she's dead and he pops into being?_

Not quite. You see, for reasons far behind we simple mortals, Arthur existed before Britannia was taken over. Though at the time he presumably represented nothing, Britannia and her other sons recognized him for what he was and took him in.

_Why?_

Dunno'. Before then he was probably taken care of by the Fair Folk.

_. . . Fair Folk?_

Ah, the fae.

_Oh._

But, eventually, Rome broke up this happy little family. So here we've a small child-nation, motherless, hated by the few people he knows, and being raised by Rome. Not even raised. Just . . . owned. Sweet as the Italy brothers are, their grandfather was pretty cruel. And he didn't like people who got in his way. And with the many uprisings held in Britannia, Rome especially didn't like him.

_If he was just a "small child-nation", how could he have uprisings sufficient enough to both catch Rome's attention and anger him?_

Well, this is _Iggy_ we're talking about. Plus, his newfound _people_ weren't all children. Ever heard of Boudica and what the Romans did to her and her daughters? And what she did in kind?

_Yeah, but she didn't get very far._

She was just one example.

_Alright, alright, sob-story origin. But what happened to Britannia after Rome died?_

Ah, I was hoping you'd ask! After that, he was known as Albion and then Angle-land!

_Angle-land?_

So named for the Angles and Saxons that decided Albion looked like a nice little nation to invade and conquer. As in, Denmark saw a recovering child-nation and figured it was his chance to get more land.

_Lemme' guess. King Arthur rode in and saved our dear Brit?_

Not quite. For a while, Albion lived years on the closest thing to Death's Door as countries can get. He was never trained how to care for his people; he grew up as a Roman territory. And now he was constantly under attack from the Danes, Picts, and Saxons, and his tribes truly were now scattered throughout the land. They were argumentative, lacked proper communication and education and, most importantly, proper nutrition. That's where King Alfred comes in.

_King . . . Alfred? Surely you meant Arthur?_

No, this is all after Arthur's time. Alfred the Great, king of the tribe Wessex, and the only English monarch to be given such a title, was the man who united the tribes of Angle-land (with _much_ help from his daughter), educated them, and really made the island a much better place to be.

_Oh. So, no tragedy here._

Nope, not until Alfred died, at least.

_Hey, Alfred F. Jones . . ._

Dunno'. But it'd make sense wouldn't it?

_Yeah. So, what was Arthur's next tragedy?_

Well, let's see, besides everyone either hating him or dying on him? Well, I suppose his years of piratehood weren't exactly _pleasant_ per se, either for him or the people whose towns he burned, whose houses he pillaged, whose women he . . . well. There's no definite proof of _that_, but, after all, he was a pirate.

_. . . True._

And then there was the whole Henry-Mary-Elizabeth brouhaha wasn't fun either, which kind of really sucked. But he survived, stiff upper-lip and and all that good sir, and besides, Virgin Queen she may be remembered as, but Elizabeth also considered her country to be her only husband.

_Ooh, controversy._

Not that we need any more of those, please thank you. But, all things considered, I believe his next full-on tragedy would have to be when British America decided he didn't want to be British anymore.

_Oh please. Don't you think England might have . . . I don't know . . . overreacted just a bit on that one?_

Well, try looking at it from his point of view. I told you already everyone who knew him hated him, or at least disliked him, and those who didn't, most often his bosses, eventually passed away or were killed. That tends to happen to humans.

So America was the first person, the first _nation_ since his mother, to actually care about England. America was the first nation to look upon him and, not shudder in fear, disgust, and anger, not cry, scream and yell, but to look upon him with joy, love, and warmth in his eyes. To cry in despair, not because he had arrived, but because he had to leave. To shout, not with anger because Arthur was here to take and burn and pillage, but with childlike innocence and joy because Arthur is home now and can't we finally have that party you promised Engwand? I promise I won't stay up _too_ late and besides, I _am_ getting older.

So it hit England doubly hard when he suddenly found himself on a rainy battlefield pointing a gun in America's face.

_So that's why he didn't shoot him?_

America, at that point in time, was like a son or younger brother to him. Even when England felt completely abandoned by him, even through all the hurtpainconfusiondespair that he must have been feeling, England simply could not shoot America.

_Which was, truly, all for the better._

Yes, but could either of them have known? So England loses his most precious colony and goes home and sulks.

_As per usual._

Though I think now we know England has earned the right to a good sulk? And besides, America growing so quickly, so efficiently, becoming a superpower so soon, I'm sure for dear Iggy it was very much like rubbing a whole collection of exotic spices into an already infected wound.

And so maybe England does drink a lot. Maybe he is seen sulking quite often. But he has lost so much, and worked so hard to gain what he had, only to lose that, too. So, I say let him curl up with America and a nice bottle of rum.

We can give him this, at least.

* * *

First off, the sentence I used above: " . . . and just like that, boom! she's dead and . . ." is not incorrectly capitalized. From my understanding, it is though, a rather old way of writing, but I that's how I tend to write.

Alright, so, before anyone gets their panties into twists, I'd like to say that Miss Britannia _did_ exist! According to Hetalia's wikia, Britannia, England's mother, did exist. Her description is pretty much just that she was, like her son, rather tsundere (I hear fanfictions being born!). Since, so far as I know, Iggy being alive during Roman rule is headcanon for pretty much everyone, I'll count that as canon.

So, wild guess, but I'd say this chapter is probably also riddled with historical inaccuracies, although, hopefully not, since I'd like to say I know my stuff about one of my (many) father-countries. Please tell me if you notice any, though, I will love you forever! Only not really, but, you know.

So, you might have noticed this one is a bit . . . more in depth, historically, than Romano's. Reason being, I am a total nerd about England and his brothers. . . . But mostly England. Especially old, archaic Albion, Alba, and Erin (or, England, Scotland, and Ireland). The wonderful tales of King Arthur, King Alfred the Great, Aethelfraed (Alfred's daughter, look her up!), Boudica, and everyone; they're simply fantastic!

Little fun fact! The word barbarian comes from the Latin word barbarus. It was used to describe the 'barbarians' of Britannia, Caledonia (modern-day Scotland), and Hibernia (modern-day Ireland) because the silly Romans thought that they were all saying "Bar bar bar bar" . . . I have no idea why the Romans misinterpreted their language as "Barbarbar", but they did. . . . 'Course, this is Italy's grandfather we're talking about. :|

I also wanted to somehow mention that little scene where England didn't want America to call him brother because of all the negative connotations he'd come to associate with the word, but I couldn't find any way to fit it in. Sadface.

In case of interest:

Spanish Empire: en . wikipedia wiki/ Spanish _Empire  
Russian Empire(among others . . . oh, look! Holy Rome!): listverse 2010/06 /22/top -10-greatest -empires-in -history/  
Britannia: hetalia .kitawiki. ? title=List _of_minor_ characters_in_ Hetalia:_Axis_Powers


End file.
